Indians hold on for 55-50 win

Saturday

Nov 17, 2012 at 10:25 AMNov 17, 2012 at 10:29 AM

Erich Murphy

A team will look at times and look not so good at other times in the same game for often in the early season. The best a coach can hope for is that the team comes out on top more often than not. Pontiac head coach Mindy Whitehouse witnessed her team play real well, and then deal with some issues down the stretch Friday afternoon. In the end, the second-year PTHS boss saw her team prevail as the Indians held off LaSalle-Peru 55-50 at the Pontiac Thanksgiving Tournament. The bad news was the trouble Pontiac faced in dealing with LaSalle-Peru’s pressure in the fourth quarter. Double teams and traps gave the PTHS ballhanders fits in trying to bring the rock up the floor. Turnovers ensued and the lead that had reached 20 points in the third quarter had dwindled considerably. “I said to them that sometimes you play to the level of your competition and I said that in the fourth quarter the worst thing that can happen to us we had that big lead,” Whitehouse said. “Unforced turnovers killed us. You can’t have turnover, turnover, turnover.” Good news prevailed in the end. Pontiac didn’t allow the Cavaliers to get any closer than the final score. But LaSalle-Peru made noise by not only forcing turnovers, but also nailing shots — open and with a defender up close. The good news for the Indians began earlier in the game, with 2 1/2 minutes to go in the first quarter. LaSalle-Peru took a 10-8 lead when Hannah Wolfe scored with 2:43 to go in the first frame. Freshman Ashley Harfst answered with a 3-pointer for an 11-10 lead and the last of six lead changes. It also started what became a 19-1 run over the next 8:08 of the game. Kaela Hodges and Harfst scored before the end of the opening period to give the Indians a 15-10 edge at the quarter break. Hodges then scored 8 of the Indians’ first 10 points of the second period as the margin grew to 25-11. Kelsey Walsberg drained a floater in the paint that capped the run and made it 27-11. Rachael Fearman buried a 3-pointer right before the half that staked Pontiac to a 30-15 advantage. “I thought we did better with ball reversal, we got people scoring and the big girls cutting,” Whitehouse said. The Cavaliers scored the first two baskets of the second period. Pontiac responded by getting eight more points from Hodges while Walsberg connected from beyond the arc and added a driving deuce off a turnover as the PTHS lead grew to 45-25 with two minutes to play in the quarter. Hodges finished with 24 points as the Indians improved to 2-1. Walsberg threw in 9 points while Maddie Dohleman, Harfst and Fearman chipped in 5 points apiece. Jordan Johns scored 4 points and Michaela Dohleman netted 2 markers. “I was impressed with how we recovered from Monday because Monday was not that great. We’ve struggled with injuries and people being sick; Sami (Battle) hasn’t practiced because she got done with swimming,” Whitehouse said. “Once we get everybody back to practice and we have people to scrimmage, we’ll be alright.” Britany Zawacki had 14 points for LaSalle-Peru and Brianna Argubright checked in with 10.

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